While i'm not enamoured with the idea of framing The Hobbit within the strict bounds of the existing Lord of the Rings films, which i would have preferred them to build up to on their own terms- consistent with and exploring events within the timeline only revealed in the latter book but nevertheless standing well enough alone, the 'let me tell you a story' format has always been on the cards and to be fair will likely work well enough. It's also a far better way of featuring LotR cast cameos than compressing the timeline by half a century (that said, given the existing compression i consider it entirely possible to show Aragorn and Arwen's first meeting within the narrative of the Hobbit).

So yeah, basically i'm non-plussed about it all. If that turned out to be the film's biggest sin then we could all breathe a sign of relief.